Archive By Section - Nation

BOSTON (AP) - A college friend of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev pleaded guilty Thursday to impeding the investigation by removing incriminating evidence from Tsarnaev's dorm room several days after the deadly attack.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A young woman charged with abducting a 5-year-old Philadelphia girl from school and raping her had frequently viewed Japanese anime depicting sexual torture, prosecutors disclosed Thursday.

EX-JUDGE MUST SAY SHE'S SORRY, JUST NOT IN CUFFS: HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - A former Pennsylvania Supreme Court justice convicted of corruption was spared on Thursday the further embarrassment of having to write her court-ordered apologies to every judge in the state on photos of herself in handcuffs.

FERGUSON, Mo. (AP) - A white police officer whose shooting death of an unarmed black 18-year-old ignited racial upheaval in a St. Louis suburb has been characterized as either an aggressor whose deadly gunfire constituted a daylight execution or a law enforcer wrongly maligned for just doing his job.

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) - Federal officials say the discovery of nine immigrants who were locked inside the cargo area of a rental truck at a Border Patrol checkpoint in southern Arizona highlights the dangers of human smuggling.

HARVEY, Ill. (AP) - About two dozen heavily armed law enforcement officers stormed a home in Chicago's southern suburbs Wednesday to free four remaining hostages and capture two suspects, ending a 20-hour standoff that police say began as a robbery attempt.

RENO, Nev. (AP) - A former school teacher charged with murder in the shooting of an unarmed trespasser told police he had considered guarding the often-burglarized duplex in the past but was concerned he might shoot a child, a prosecutor said Wednesday.

VANCOUVER, Wash. (AP) - A prosecutor says he'll dismiss a firearms charge against a man who contends he was following the advice of Vice President Joe Biden when he fired a shotgun in the air to chase off intruders.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - Gov. Rick Perry was defiant Tuesday as he was booked on abuse of power charges, telling dozens of cheering supporters outside a Texas courthouse that he would "fight this injustice with every fiber of my being."